John Cornyn says he’ll seek number two Senate GOP leadership post

Texas Sen. John Cornyn says he’s making a bid for the second-ranking post in the Senate GOP leadership because it would put him in a better position to help Texas.

Cornyn, R-San Antonio, told reporters in a weekly telephone conference call that gaining a seat at the leadership table would enable him to help shape the GOP agenda in the Senate, map the timetable for legislation and provide a “logical step” following his four years as chairman of the Senate GOP campaign operation.

“These leadership contests are always a little awkward but I figure as long as I’m here serving in the Senate, I want to maximize my ability to do good things and help the people of Texas,” the second term senator said. “I think serving in leadership enables me to do that.”

Cornyn is the only announced candidate for the Senate GOP whip post that will be decided following the 2012 elections.

Cornyn won a clear shot at the coveted post as deputy to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, when Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down from Senate leadership and would not contest Cornyn’s plans to seek the second-ranking assignment.

Cornyn said senators from Texas have long played prominent roles in the Senate leadership – most prominently Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Democrat who served as Senate majority leader before being chosen by John F. Kennedy to run as vice president on the Democratic ticket in the 1960 election.

Cornyn has a reputation in the Senate as both a consensus builder – and a courteous but willing partisan. The former Texas attorney general and state supreme court justice said he would call upon both aspects of his personality when and if he wins the post in late 2012. The current occupant of the post is Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in 2012.

Cornyn said being viewed as a consensus builder was “a compliment,” adding: “I actually think that Texans are looking for solutions and unfortunately what they see in Washington is not a solution driven agenda, very often.”

Cornyn emphasized that he had worked with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., to win passage of legislation to expedite citizenship for immigrants who serve in the armed forces, and with Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, to make federal government more transparent.

“I’m eager to reach out to work with Democrats,” Cornyn said. “”I have looked for opportunities to achieve consensus but I’m also more than willing to fight the good fight where there are legitimate disagreements.”

Cornyn’s route to the Senate leadership could benefit from a series of political IOUs that he has accumulated during his service as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm of the GOP that works to recruit and finance Republicans seeking seats in the Senate.

Cornyn got credit in 2010 for helping Republicans gain seven seats in the Senate while also retaining six GOP seats where Republicans replaced retiring Republicans.

Cornyn is hoping for gains in 2012, as well. Republicans are eyeing opportunities in 23 contests where Democrats hold Senate seats while the GOP only has to defend 10 Republican seats.